About

Hi there, so who are you and why did you create this site?

My name is Luboš Brieda, and I am a regular guy born in Slovakia. I grew up in a great city located smack in the middle of the country called Banská Bystrica. I moved to the US with my mom shortly after turning 14, and slowly and surely, began to miss the tasty Slovak home cooking. So I figured I’ll try to learn few of the recipes, and perhaps along the way find out more about the culture and history of my country.

What else do you do?

I currently live in Falls Church, VA (near Washington, D.C.) with my Colombian wifey Sandra, and have recently completed my PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the George Washington University. I currently split my time between working at NASA Goddard as a contamination engineer and running my own company dedicated to scientific computing and plasma physics, Particle In Cell Consulting. On weekends I like to get out and spend the time outdoors, hiking, running, biking and so on. You can find out a lot of my various hobbies (including the main one, climbing US highpoints) on my personal site.

I have never heard of Slovak food before…

You are not alone! Slovak food is not exactly well known around the world. I am hoping this website will change that. It’s a huge shame – Slovak food is absolutely delicious. And best of all, it’s very easy to prepare. Historically, Slovaks were peasants who spent their days in the fields or herding sheep. As such, the food had to be cooked up fast, but also had to be filling. Many dishes can be prepared using a single pot. But, that doesn’t mean we don’t like the finer things in life. Part of Slovak cuisine are amazing sweets: kolache, buchty, and various Christmas cookies. You will find recipes for many of these on this site.

Where is the recipe for holubky?

Since getting involved with Slovak cooking, I came to realize that the dish most Slovak-Americans associate with traditional Slovak cooking is stuffed cabbage. This dish is referred to as “holubky” or “halupky”. So where is the recipe, since this is a site dedicated to Slovak cooking? Well the funny thing, the first time I had this dish was in the United States! After more digging, I discovered stuffed cabbage is quite popular in Eastern Slovakia, region heavily influenced by both Ukrainian and also Orthodox customs. Many immigrants came originally from this region, so it makes sense that their American descendants learned to cook this dish.

Update 11/4/2011: I finally made this dish, and the holubky recipe is now online!

Where can I try Slovak food?

Well, this is bit harder. There aren’t that many Slovak restaurants around, unless you are lucky enough to live in New York City or Chicago. Perhaps through this site we can change this? I would very much like to see some Slovak staples (such as the steamed dumpling) to become a regular menu item in American restaurants. Do you own a restaurant and would you like to add something from this site to the menu? Please feel free to do so, just give the site credit when possible. And of course, when you get a chance, hop on a plane and head to Slovakia. It’s a beautiful country full of ancient castles, hot thermal springs, crystal clear mountain lakes and best of all, extremely friendly people.

I love Slovak food! What should I do next?

Great! First, leave me a comment or two. Then become a fan on Facebook and Twitter, and also subscribe to the news feed. Then, let your friends know. Much of site’s traffic comes from personal recommendations so these help a lot. Finally, if you enjoy this site, please consider making a donation. The site is completely supported with your financial gifts – there are no ads and no corporate sponsors funding it so your donations are very important.

Can I add my own recipes?

Although vast majority of the recipes on the site were cooked by me, I’ll gladly upload your illustrated recipe for your favorite Slovak dish. You can read more about this on the contribute page.

I want to promote Slovak cooking! Do you have any articles I can publish?

Yup, please see the Press page. You may also republish articles from this site, as long as you credit slovakcooking.com and shoot me an email letting me know about it.

Do you have a cookbook for sale?

I get this question quite a lot and the answer is that unfortunately not yet. I’ve been meaning to organize the recipes from this site into a collection of my favorite 50 or so recipes, however, I just have not had the time yet. However, I’ll be soon offering kitchen recipe calendars for purchase. Stay tuned!

How do I get in touch with you?

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222 Responses to “About”

Hi Lubos! I found your blog while looking up Slovak recipes. I’m half Slovak on my father’s side My grandmother has been gone for many years now, and I really miss her cooking. The only dish of hers that I can duplicate is Halusky & Cabbage, so I think I need to expand my repertoire, LOL! I like your recipes – I’m going to try Spaghetti with Egg, Bacon & Cheese this week. Definitely NOT diet food, but looks so good!

Hi Paula, good idea. I’ll start posting measurements in cups. The reason I haven’t done so yet, is that when I cook, I don’t usually measure things too precisely. For instance, when I made buchty, I bought a 2lb bag of all purpose flour. The bag said it weighed 907 grams, so I poured in roughly half the bag. But, in any case, for all purpose flour, you have 125 grams per cup.

I was laughing so hard when you said how you measure, ehmm, “it says 2 lb on a package so I use about 1/2 of it” because I do exactly the same thing. How do you measure a little bit of this and little bit of that

I learned a lot from Jacques Pépin a famous French chef (I met him once), and he always says “a little bit of salt a bit of pepper, ehhm I add some more, Two garlic cloves, ehh, I add one more, I like garlic, etc.) He always says “I do not follow any recipes precisely, I like to improvise to make it my way”

Hi, I came across this page through Facebook and I’m very impressed by the recipes. I would love to try making them and I will this Christmas. I’ve never tried anything from Slovakian kitchen, although I live pretty close to Slovakia – in Poland – so I should I suppose … 🙂
Keep the good work Lubos…

Dakujem vel’mi pekny for making this website! I’ve been looking for a good Slovak recipe website for awhile now, and am really excited to come across yours! My husband is from Zilina, so I’ve been trying to recreate some dishes for him! He will be excited =) I became a Fan of your Facebook page also! Thanks again!

Sorry for my delay in answering your question as didn’t see your response until just now! I am not from Slovakia, but my husband is! When we got married, we had plans to one day hopefully move to Slovakia and I wanted to carry on the tradition… so I took on the -ova form of his last name. It has added a lot of confusion here in the states, but I prefer it this way =) we have also given our newborn daughter the -ova form!

On Christmas eve I wrote to let you know how my halusky turned out. My husband and I had a lovely Christmas eve dinner with those tasty Slovak dumplings. My mother always “sauced” hers with cabbage and bacon. I did the same – I had far too much dough even though we over did the meal, but it was divine and took me back to my childhood with parents and grandparents. So pleased to find what you’ve done with the food site and I’m impressed at the busy life you lead, work, school, travel. Dakujem for a nostalgic tour of food and travel. I’m a confirmed fan.

JoanB.

P.S. The last name is Polish, but both sets of grandparents were from Slovakia.

Thanks a lot Joan! Creating this site was pretty natural for me: I like taking photos and I like to eat. 🙂 I am currently in Slovakia, and updating the site from here is even easier: I don’t have to do any cooking.

This website reminds me on my childhood in Vricko in slovakia. When grandma cooked tasty slovak “kapustnica”, “bryndzove halusky” or “kysla fazulova polievka”. I guess that
old stove in my grandparents` blockhouse flavoured the meals with an inimitable natural taste. Fortunately I have eaten most of these foods at my parents´ house.
My mother is a master in “zemiakovy salat” and “obaleny vyprazany rezen”. My Sister is crazy about “tatarska omacka” and “treska”. I grant you, that the whole family is crazy about
„treska“ and „gulasova polievka“! My suggestions for further meals are “makove sulance”, “orechove
palacinky” and “tatarska omacka” (which fits to excellently “vyprazany syr”).
Lubos, in my opinion you have got the black belt in slovak cooking! Regards from Germany.

Vielen Dank! So I had to go on Google Maps to figure out where Vrícko is located, and it turns out it’s not too far from Banská Bystrica. Treska is definitely tasty. I have posted recipe for treska, but when I made it I used a dark fish so it turned out bit different from how it looks in stores. I also very much like the Slovak “tartar sauce”. Most people just buy it in the store, but I’ll try to find a recipe. So far I have not found a suitable substitute for “tatarská omáčka” in the United States. Today we prepared home-made rezance s makom (poppy seed noodles) and I’ll be posting those shortly. I’ll also add the recipe for palacinky. I am just bit sick of eating sweets right now…

Mix yolks with mustard (about 1 tbl spoon)
While mixing, slowly add oil while continually steering so that you get the right blend, adding oil slowly is important as if you put it in all at once it will never integrate with the rest.
Add some lemon juice from the fresh lemon, add sour cream and salt. Keep mixing.
Add chopped pickle, anchovy, lemon zest, parsley and cumin seeds.

Mixe all that stuff well and put it into refrigerator to cool and “age”, a half of hour is enough.

And there you have a good tatarsku omacku”

BTW, I like it a bist spicy and thus I add a few drops of Tabasco. Of course it’s my personal preference, not a part of the original recipe.

Ahoj, very nice site, especially the part about ‘zabijacka’, it reminds me my childhood at my grandparents. My parents still do the klobasy at home, but not the other products (which i’m not really fan). And your recipe for Makove slize inspired me for this weekend.

Thanks Katka. Yeah, there are many meat products that come out of zabijacka I am not very keen of. There is also something called huspenina, which I believe are jellied pigs feet. I think I’ll stick to sausages and jaternica.

Hi Lubos, I love your site. I recently started translating my grandmother’s 80 year old handwritten cookbook from Slovak into English, and have started to publish them on a blog, along with some old family stories.

I am also in the DC area, living here with my husband and kids. We will have to have a Slovak meal together when you return to DC!

I would love to see some of your recipes in the blog! I have been thinking the same…starting a cookbook would be great way to spread our great cuisine! I’m also a graphic designer and photographer….so maybe we could collaborate!

Lorraine, you can see Tonya’s recipes at paulinescookbook.com. And keep me in mind if you ever decide to put together the cookbook. This is something I have considered myself, however I currently don’t have much free time.

Hi Tonya: I just discovered this site through another Slovak site that I also recently discovered! As I was reading through all the previous posts to learn I saw your post back in 2010 and I also live in the DC area! I looking to meet Slovaks in DC. Would love to have a Slovak dinner with you’all (yes, I’m a Virginian! But was born and raised in PA and my Mother was Slovak, I went to St.Cyril Academy in Danville, PA which used to be the Slovak Girls Academy)
Thanks and Hope to hear from you soon!!
Patricia

My mother made the best Czech tomatoe omacka and spinach omacka. Unfortunately I have lose the handed down recipes. I have tried to find them in Slovak cookbooks but have been unsuccessful, maybe you could help me.

Hi Lubos,
Wonderful website! I’m also from Slovakia but currently living in the US for almost 8 years. It’s great to know I can come here to find ideas for dinner. My husband is an American and loves Slovakian cuisine. More often than not I’m out of ideas what else I could cook for us. Anyway, I had to stop here and leave my recipe for ‘tartar sauce’. I have obtained it last time I was home about a year ago from the restaurant close to my parents house and they make the best ‘house made’ tartar sauce. I’ve been making it ever since and love it every time! So here goes:

Need: 2 egg yolks, 2.5 dcl (little over a cup of canola oil), two pickles (i buy polish dill pickles – not a big fan of american pickles), medium size yellow onion, 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of mustard (once again, if you have slovak horcica use that before you use american mustard, better yet find either polish or russian – i visit a lot of european food markets), black pepper, little bit of pickle juice.

Start out making a basic mayo. Put 2 egg yolks in a bowl and use a hand mixer to whisk the yolks for 3-4 minutes until they start looking smooth and creamy. Then you can start adding a little oil. Careful here since it really needs to be a trickle not a pour. I usually put the oil in the measuring cup with the spout and add a little trickle every 10-15 seconds while mixing the yolks in the bowl. About half way through the oil the mixture should start getting nice and thick. Once that’s done I put the pickles and onion and little bit of pickle juice into a chopper and get it all cut up into grainy mixture. You can control the size of the chunks easily since longer you run the chopper smoother the mixture. Add the pickle/onion mixture into mayo and add the mustard, sugar and black pepper and the tartar sauce is done. Add pickle juice or little bit of vinegar if for more pronounced taste. Enjoy!

Hi Lubos, I too have just found your website. I live in Australia and my father is from Terchova. My mum is a very talented cook and through my parents myself and my 2 brothers we have learnt to cook many slovakian recipes. My father still makes his own sauerkraut, smoked sausages and bacon and my mum makes the best halusky, stuffed capsicum and cabbage. If you ever come to Australia our kitchen is always open. Excellent website.

I would like to thank you for making such a wonderful website! I am about 70% Slovak, and thanks to you, I can sample my culture through traditonal (and delicious) food! I really owe you for coming up with such great ideas and recipes!

I just want to say thank you for this great site!
My Grandparents came from the Orava section of Slovakia.
We cook many many Slovak dishes from the last one hundred years or so.
Thank you again and looking forward to commenting!!

I am 100% NOT Slovak blood, but this country is my second hometown!
I’m Warisa from Bangkok, Thailand. I had lived in Nova Bana for a year when I joined an exchange student program in 2004. It was such a magnificent time in my life. My host mother, Andrea, is a cook in the local primary school in NB. That’s why i gained almost 10 kg. during my stay 🙂
Thank you so much for making this useful website. I miss mamicka’s cooking so much (i have not returned to Slovakia for about 5 years now) and all the recipes are incredible! well, though several dishes that I try to cook don’t taste as good as mamicka’s but it makes me feel like I am home again 🙂

Lubos, you know I like this site, thus I am posting this to spare some folks from being scammed like I was.

Don’t know how much control you have over ads on you site. Those ads about “Tip of a flat belly”, leading to acai advanced colon, etc. is a deceiving and will cost money if you jump on it with no clear results delivered.

I read the article (not on your site) and as I have a problem with weight I went for “1 month supply trial just for shipping and handling” Oh well, never mind, as soon as they had my credit card number, they enrolled me into automatic payment plan, said “we have no free trial” you should have turn it down in 10 days, etc.

They charged me twice for two products and overall it cost me over $300. I reported them to Better Business Bureau (they already had a bunch of complains), dealt with my CC company that I will not accept any more charges (CC company was unable to deal with internet purchases and reverse the previous charges)

I talked to both companies, unpleasant conversations. They agreed to cancel my subscription but refused to give me back money they already cashed.

Expensive lesson, and here I am, rather skilled IT professional being scammed.

Oh BTW, the product delivered NOTHING, maybe I lost a couple of pounds. For all, there are the same acai products based in good nutrition stores, whole food, etc., for a fraction of price these folks try to charge you.

I understand the business and need to get some sponsor money from ads to run a site but some of them are bad, and thus I am posting this so other folks do not lose money like I did.

Thanks for posting all of this. My family is Slovak and I just returned from visiting their hometown of Hubová (more or less in the Malá Fatra area) and it was beautiful. It’s great to have all of these recipes handy since I know I’m going to be needing some Madarsky gulas, especially, soon. I’m lucky enough to be able to get Zlaty Bazant to wash it all down, too.

Madarsky gulas is probably my single most favorite dish. Good choice! Just make sure to make the dumpling (knedla) to go with it, it’s not the same without it. Golden Pheasant used to be somewhat common few years back when I was still in college (Virginia Tech). It’s harder to find now – or perhaps it just happened that the local grocery store down there carried it. But there are few spots here in Washington, D.C. where you can find it, including a liquor store in the Chevy Chase neighborhood.

I know this is not the right place but I’m looking for someone to help me translate these few words: a mame by to nevadilo, ale mne hej… stacì, ked budeme doma ja ty a filip bude spat. Can anybody help me please? if yes my address is marlene.favuzza@tiscali.it
thank you very much

Hi Lubos
I noticed your comment about the purple carrots and thought you might like to have a peek at this website. http://rareseeds.com/ They have all kinds of seeds that grow vegetables the way they first were — until a scientist bred them differently. Have fun doing what you are doing — keeping in touch with your roots is very important.

Barbara, thank you for sharing the link. I checked out their website. They definitely got an impressive collection! Unfortunately, I am not doing any gardening now (no place where to…) but will order some seeds from them in the future when I get a lot.

Hello Lubos. I would like you to come to Mexico. I live in Cuernavaca, Morelos State, which is a beautiful place called “la ciudad de la eterna primavera” (the city of the eternal spring) for Humboldt. I learned to cook some slovak plates for my husband who was a slovak. So, it would be an honor for me if you come and try my slovak cooking in Mexico!

Wow Martha, that is awesome. Thank you very much for your invite! I am currently finishing my PhD so I don’t have much time (nor the money) to travel, but maybe I could stop by sometime in the future. I’ve been to Mexico few times, but only to the west coast. I used to live north of Los Angeles so Baja was the most convenient for us. I did the Rosarito to Ensenada bike ride twice; it was amazing. I also went to San Felipe for one New Years. Then my mom lived in Puerto Vallarta for couple months so I went there to visit her. That is one amazing town!

What a surprise! So, you know some of Mexican cooking and culture! My family is from Yucatan, in the Gulf of Mexico bay, which is very different of Puerto Vallarta. I live in the middle, near Mexico City. So, you are invited to come, anytime. It would be my pleasure. Thank you for your excelent website. I admire you so much for all what are you doing in your life.

No super, som rada ze som stranku nasla.
I have a restaurant in Longwood, Florida. Check us out at http://www.chef-henrys.com. We cook all the traditional foods there. Mami makes the most delicisious apple strudel and my dad is a mastermind in the kitchen. If you make your way down to Orlando let me know. Would love to have you for dinner and you can try the stuffed cabbage roll or svieckova na smetane. I am from Lucenec and I just spent 4 years there with my husband and kids. Upeciem ti trdelnik ok. No tak pod uz ta cakame aj spat budes mat kde. Papa pozdrav mamicku.

I just want to say this web site is fantastic and super helpful with my experimental Slovakian cooking.
I am a Canadian living in the UK and my partner is Slovakian from near Kosice. He is so happy I am replicating the food from his home so well ! I am making the potato soup now!
Cheers !

Thank you very much, Sarah. Comments like yours are what keeps me “in business” (and the fact that I like to eat). Feel free to post your photos on the Facebook page. Have fun and “dobru chut”. What’s your favorite Slovak dish so far?

Dear Lubos,
I love your website, I am quite new to it. I am slovak, living in UK. I already managed to cook zivanska.
I am cooking fasirka (meat loaf) today, and I was just wondering if you got it on your website?.Its goes well with Kelovy privarok or mashed pototoes…it looks very nice on cold plate for parties etc…
I also thinking you should add some party canapes as chlebicky…I always making them for party and all my UK friends love them.
It will be perfect for New Years Eve parties..
Jana

Does anyone know about pagach? My grandmother used to roll out dough, put a layer of sauerkraut on top, then add another layer of dough on top the sauerkraut, then bake it until it was brown. She took it out of the oven and put butter on top. She only did this for Velija Supper on Christmas Eve.
Does anyone know about this recipe for the dough?
Thanks,

I am so happy I found your site! One of my readers (I have a blog called the Czechmate Diary) told me about this site and I am happy she did.
I will definitely link to your blog and I also think that we should exchange links. What do you think?

This is Awesome. I lived in Slovakia for about 2 1/2 years teaching english. I learned some basic conversational slovak. I even got to take part in Zabijacka. Anyway, I miss being there it is great I can good food and have fond memories. Where can you find Brynza Cheese or something similiar in the US? I so miss Brynzdove Halusky!!!
–Maj Sa

Thank you, Rado. SCV is a great place to get real authentic Slovak treats, including bryndza. However, if you are looking simply to approximate the taste, I found that the “Pastures of Eden” Isreali-style Feta from Trader Joe’s tastes very similar to Slovak bryndza (bryndza and feta are both sheep cheeses).

Love your site!! My grandmother was a wonderful slovak cook. As a little girl I spent many hours with her in the kitchen, unfortunately I never got any of her recipes. I’ve always felt a little lost about my Slovak culture, my grandparents were well acclimated to the US by the time I came along. The extended family in this country was few and far between. Compared to my mothers many siblings and relatives- everyone knows about Italians. But Slovaks were different, as a little girl I would ask my grandfather where we were from, he would get frustrated and tell me checkers. I adored my grandparents and I am so happy to find this site. To learn more about the Slovak culture. As an adult I have managed to get a copy of a Slovak-American cookbook from a friend- published in 1952. Funny it is the same cookbook my grandmother gave to her Italian daughter-in-law when my parents got married. I’m wondering if Rado & Zuzana, previous blog, are my cousin & his wife–we shall see! Any way sorry to get emotional–just so happy to be here. My name is Rachelle, but grandpa called me Dumpling. So I’m gonna go with Dumpling on the board-ok?

Or how about Knedľa? That’s how you say dumpling in Slovak. It’s also a feminine noun (all nouns in Slovak have genders, just like in Spanish), so it even fits 🙂 Anyway, thank you very much for your comment. A lot of Slovak history has been passed down from generation to generation only orally so I am hoping that through the magic of the internet, I can help preserve some of these old recipes for future generations. Let’s just hope they have computers then too.

Lubos, thank you very much for putting this awesome site together. I am finally learning to backup up my Slovak origin with the Slovak cooking! You seemed to have figured out how to cook Slovak in America. Could you please for us beginner cooks maybe provide slovak / english meat part dictonary?

(e.g. what would be the equivalent of
hovadzie zadne, hovadzie predne, pliecko, krkovicka… in USA?

That’s a great idea, Kristina and Rado! I’ll work on this as my next blog post. Should be online by the end of the week.

One problem I have found is that often it simply is not even possible to find the right kind of meat here in the US. While in Slovakia we still had butchers when I was growing up there, here in the US everything is shrink wrapped unless you are lucky to live close to an international market, and the only cuts of meats are the prime ones suitable for grilling. Slovak recipes are designed to fully utilize the animal, so some recipes (like soups) use some less-than-prime cuts of meat, which is fine for making stews and soups. For instance, krkovička (neck meat). That’s definitely a hit-or-miss in my local grocery store.

I also have a big problem to find the right meat in US because I do not know how to translate Slovak names of meats. If somebody knows please post it here. Some kind of guide would be greatly appreciated.

zadne kolienko a nozicka = same as predne kolienko a nozicka not used much in American cooking

sumkovy vyrez = part of leg especially boneless fresh ham

there are many details in pork meat that are usually not used in the US cooking. Aka, “vnutornosti” including heart, liver, kidney, brain, toque, stomach, etc. They are used in “zabijacka food” not so known in the US. Some processed parts you can find in a specialty stores. Aka tlacenka known as head cheese in the US.

If you want, I can do veal (telacie maso) and lamb (jahna) but you get a gist

There are recipes to turn any meat into tasteful and delicious meal, however, if you don’t coock it right the result may be very disapointing.

E.g., if you pick up the wrong meat for a barbequing it or broiling it, you may end up with tough and maybe dry meat,. use the same meat for a long cooking stew and you end up with a delicious meal

A prime cuts, aka “svieckovica, rostenka, etc.,” will do just fine in a fast roasting, searing (fast burn of top layer on a skillet with minimum oil) which keeps juices inside the meat nand doin’t take a long to prepare.

Secondary cuts, aka “plece, stehno, etc.” may not do so good in fast roasting, searing but will do excellent in slow searing followed by stewing with some onion and veggies. It takes longer but you don’t end up with “tough” meat as if you just sear it or threw it on a barbeque for a short time.

Tough meat is good when you marinate it (overnight or even longer) tougher meat need a longer period, best cut needs no or a short period for marinating (just to pick up a taste)

I may marinate a roast meat for 24 hours, then put it into oven and slow roast it (depending on weight it may take 3 hours on a low temp).

There are many recipes in Slovak cooking, many of them posted by Lubos (thank you for all that work)

Yes selection of the right meat makes a difference. Aka, meat with little fat (or marble marking) is going to end to be a dry and not apealing, and you have to match the meat with recipee. Even in traditional stuff, like “kapustnica” you better pick up the right meat or you will end up with dry and not so tasty meat components.

Of course there is the whole litany about cooking offal (vnurnosti), like you braise a liver but don’t salt it until it’s done, as it makes it tough,. etc…

This would take much more than what I posted but I hope it was somehow useful 🙂

Hi John, it’s Zlte Piesky by the bus station, but I am not sure if it’s operational again (well the bar is). He was planning to do renovations last time I spoke to him about it, but go and check. If not,you can at least get some beer in a real Slovak krčma (pub).

Lubos, Unfortunately I got in touch with you too late. Our time was limited and we were unable to make it there. But, now having seen Banska Bystrica, I can understand why you love the place so much. It is a beautiful city! I was able to do some biking through Sliac, Velka Luka, and the stretch of yellow trail from Horna’ Micna to Vlkanova was spectacular. This was our first trip to Sovakia. Next time, though, we WILL make it to Zlte Piesky.

I´m a Czech (on moms side) and Slovakian (on dads side)girl living in Sweden. I have lived here for all my life. I came across your page while looking for recipies. It is really great!I´ve just made smazeny karfiol s bramborovou kasy for my family and they relly liked it. For the swedes this is a strange dish, carbs served with carbs?!? =) I too really miss the food I was grown up with and I´m really enthusiastic to learn more recipies from the czech and slovak cuisine. This page is bookmarked on the spot!

Thank you so much for this webiste!! My husband & I moved to Bratislava from the US a few months ago and I’ve been looking for a site like this! I LOVE to cook but was feeling so frustrated because I don’t speak enough Slovak yet to follow the recipes in the local books but the English recipes for Slovak food that I found online are NOT the traditional meals that we’ve had since our arrival here. Having recipes in English that also explain the Slovak words for some of the ingredients has helped me be able to shop in the markets and prepare the same authentic, delicious foods we’ve come to love during our time here. I found your website last night and already have many meals planned for this week!!

Do you happen to have a recipe for tomato soup? I noticed in Slovakia there are many variations on it, but I was never able to get a recipe for it from anyone. It was one of my favorites during tomato season in Slovakia! 🙂

Tomatoes, especially tomatoe juices have a natural high level of acidity and thus cooking with it, especially in meals that are thin (like soups or souces) adding a bit of sweet taste is a good idea to make the taste balanced.

It does not full the stomach and if you are suspect to high acid stomach problems, it’s better to avoid tomato soups or souces.

Hi Lubos,
I just bumped on your blog in search of a recipe for an “interesting baked rice pudding with egg yolks”, and I liked your pudding recipe. So I decided to read the “About” page, and you know what? I also live in Falls Church, VA, and I am a GW alumna! What a coincidence! Anyway, excellent blog, good luck with it!

Hi! I discovered your blog while searching for recipes for my international cooking blog. I gave you and your blog a big shout out, linked back to you and included your mushrooms soup recipe (and link back to you with credits) Love you blog and your writing!

I somehow knew the man, met him once, he was my kind of guy in the old country.

RIP Vaclav, we all have to go at some point of time, and before you went you did good at contributing to a human race and advancement.
I hope it’s OK to shed a tear, as he was a different type of warrior, maybe not fit for a crazy world we live in, but he never gave up.

im so happy i found your website! im originally from northern california, lived in arlington 2007-2008 by way of the army and now im down in virginia beach living and working; im a nurse. i have been to slovakia 4 different times and loved every minute of it. i knew americans who lived there as missionaries in banska! to visit them and help them with english and sports camps was the reason for my travel there. i have visited the high tatras too. im excited to take a stab at making two of my fav slovak dishes, halusky and langos! awesome site! thank you : )

A friend of mine remembers a dish that his grandmother called plnena – but I think he has the wrong name. He described it as a dumpling filled with various chicken parts (gizzards, etc.) and he remembered it looking like a ‘brain’. Any idea what that might be? Thanks!

Hey Lubos, I just found your website. I wanted to make some real Slovak svieckova and your website just makes things way easier for me (the slovak websites are so hard to figure out!!! What a shame, I know, I know..)
I will let you know once my husbands tasted my version of svieckova 🙂

@Miro: Personally, I think Holubky is the most complete food on the planet. You could eat it morning, noon and night and be 1) completely satisfied and 2) nutritionally complete. Give it a try, see how it works and we can patent the new Slovak diet.

Greta site, Lubos! Thanks for the effort. Since 2000, I have made 10 trips to SK including one to celebrate the wedding of the young lady who served as my translator on several trips. I really enjoyed the Slovak tradition of the beautiful cakes and pastry trays that were brought by the guests as wedding gifts. The sweets table was magnificent.
Two recipes I did not see on your site that I have eaten while in SK. The first I had in Levice and it was called “Janosik’s Braid” It was a pork dish using with two other meats that I never did identify that were cut in long strips, braided together like a hair braid and then grilled over open flame. The second I had in Nitra and it was essentially a whole pig knee cut about three inches above and below the knee joint. It was superb but the cooking technique looked like it combined braising and broiling as the outer skin was very crispy. Any thoughts? Or were these dishes created for the tourists? 🙂
BTW, I’ve been through BB (I have a good friend who teaches at the seminary there) on my way to Hronec! Can’t wait to go back. maybe this summer. Djakujem, Lubos!

I can’t tell you much about “Janosik’s Braid” must have been a local recipe and I have no ide what it was.

I can tell you more about “pig knee”, I had it in my old town – Zvolen.

It’s a slow broiling, takes a time but result is delicius. Soft meat and crunchy skin. Slow does it, and it takes time, no need to fancy prep and spices, just put it on a gril or into oven and give it a time.

Yeah, I’ve been super busy finishing my PhD dissertation. But it’s finally done! Submitted last Wednesday, then spent the long weekend in Guadalajara, Mexico visiting my gf’s brother’s family and just got back. Planning to bake some sort of a cake this week to celebrate being done.

I usually get slovak recipes from my parents back home. However, their way of writing the recipes is very vague and therefore for me as a cooking noob almost impossible to make without making 2 or 3 additional phone calls 🙂 I feel that this website can put me back on track of my casual, only when I feel like, Slovak cuisine cooking. Here I can take advantage from lots of screen-shots and detailed description. I think I will start with something “simple” as “Cesnaková Polievka”.

Needless to say, this is a great website ! And I can tell, as I seen a few already 🙂 Informative, meaningful, precise, well structured and easy to navigate. Surely, you did put a lot of effort into it !

I am putting together a group of slovak recipies that I grew up with. These are for my son, who is a chef. My mother made many of the recipies that are on this site Lubos and all are bringing back memories. Today is Good Friday and I have just made an egg creation that she and her mother always made at Easter. Here is the recipe.

1 doz eggs
about 2 cups milk
I used Skim, makes lighter version, but the higher the fat content makes it richer.
dash of salt

Break eggs into a none stick saucepan and add milk. Whisk up the mixture, but not too much.
Heat on medium heat stirring constantly but gently with a wooden spoon. In about 10-15 minutes the eggs begin to cook and create lumps, like curdles. The mixture begins to pull together, but not harden. When you have a mixture like loose scrambled eggs pour the entire mixture in a cheese cloth lined strainer over a bowl.

It will be hot, but pull up the cheese cloth and gently squeese together to form a ball. Tie as tight as you can with string. (I use an elastic band) The liquid from the milk and eggs left will drip into the bowl. Refrigerate in this shape about 2-4 hours until cold or overnight. Unwrap, slice. This is so good on Easter morning on a slice of fresh bread, in a sandwich, tomato, ham etc.

If you have ever heard of this recipe or even made it please help me with the Slovak name for it.

Maybe its just a recipe my grandmother developed, but I remember it from 50 years ago. I make it now every Easter. Both my grandmother and my mother and father are gone, and I never, ever thought to ask the name. So good.

Josephine: Thank you Thank you. As soon as I saw “hrudka” I remembered the name. I am eating a slice as I am writing this. This site is so wonderful in helping me remember all the slovak foods my mom used to make. My father loved it as well. He was born in Cinnobana, and my mom was born in Jancovce. The met and married in Montreal. Thank you again.

Hello Irene, yes hrutka is so delicious, my babka came from Myslina near Hummene, in the far eastern part of Slovakia. My memory of
Good Friday and Holy Saturday, today, was the
hrutka tied in the cloth hanging over the back of a chair with an enamel bowl or pot below it
catch the drippings. When done mom wrapped it in
waxpaper and chilled it. We also took it church inthe Easter Basket for the blessing.
Happy Easter to and all viewers here.
Philka

Iam a first generation slovak born in this country, 83 years of age. My Father came from Siroke and my Mother from Kosice. My Grandparents were the first in our family to migrate to America. When I think of the Slovak meals that my Mother and Grandmother used to make, my mouth starts watering. Thankyou for your site, It’s in my favorites and will be visited often I asure you.

Thank you for creating this site! We just returned from a 10 day trip to Slovakia visiting two foreign exchange students who lived with us two years ago, one from your hometown and one from Sulov Hradna in the Tatras region. We really enjoyed their families’ cooking and am looking forward to trying your recipes as well.
Beautiful people and a beautiful country!
Thanks again!

I grew up on the Midwestern United States and would get tastes of delicious Slovak food at potlucks and a few diners here and there. (You should see how fast the Kolaches go at a Midwestern bake sale!) I’ve always liked the cuisine, but didn’t have access to it once I moved out to the West Coast.

I absolutely love your site. My husbands grandmother was Slovakian/Czech and made the most amazing food. Unfortunately she took her recipes with her to the grave and my husband and I had only been newly married so I didn’t learn her recipes. Now my husband misses Halušky and Pierogis and this soup for the life of me I can not find anywhere online and can’t replicate like hers. It was a cabbage soup she called something like porage (sp and pronounce) it was pure comfort food.

Oh yes Cabbage Soup. The best and easy. This is how my mom made it.
–1 jar of saurkraut – rinsed and squeezed
sometimes its very sour. I always rinse it at
least once.
–Put the saurkraut in a pot and fill with clean water. Put enough water to depend on how thick you want the soup to be.
–Add to taste – salt, pepper and paprika.
–Simmer while you are making either or both
of the following taste sensations, that make
it the best comfort soup ever.

Zaprashka (I am not sure of the spelling)

Butter or margarine melted in a saucepan and add flour to make a roux. Brown,to a medium color. Add to the soup and stir. This will thicken it a little.

Browned onions (my favourite)

Butter or margarine melted in a saucepan. Add 1 medium or larger small slice onion. Brown to just barely burned. (Lots of flavor) Add to the soup.

This is a delicious soup, especially served with a hunk of black or rye bread.

Arika. I am saddened to read that your mother in law was unable to share her Slovak recipies with you. My son is a chef in Vancouver and he always enjoyed the Slovak cooking that my mother taught me. He asked for my recipe for Cabbage Rolls and made them as a feature recipe for the restaurant. The clientele went wild.

I am writing down all the recipies from my mother that she had written down and ones that she did not and doing a cookbook for him so that he can make them and always have a taste of Slovakia and his mom’s cooking whenever he wants.

Most of the recipies that are written down have no measurements, only the ingredients. It’s too funny, because that’s how she got them from her mother.

I absolutely love your website! I have learned so much on top of what I had already learned from my slovak grandparents and my slovak friend from high school (he was an exchange student my senior year).

It has been exciting, and I always share your site with friends and family interested in slovak cooking and baking!

Although I am far from a traditional slovak, I eat a vegan diet and have adapted recipes to suit my diet. I love that a lot of the foods are as simple as flour, potatoes, and salt – basically, staples always available in the kitchen. I LOVE that philosophy! Your site has helped reinvigorate my connectedness to my family roots on my father’s side (100% slovak), and each time I prepare a traditional dish (in an untraditional vegan way…haha), it is special for me and to those whom I serve the food to 🙂

Thanks Dan! I can imagine that it must be very difficult being a Slovak vegan, but I agree on the simple staples. In fact, although most Slovak meals contain some meat, at least in the form of bacon (which appears to be considered a vegetable as you’ll often find dishes with bacon listed under “vegetarian” option in the menu…), the cuisine is not as meat-heavy as the US one. At least that’s my impression. When I was growing up, we never had dishes similar to the American steaks where the plate consisted of meat and not much else. I am sure this was due to the economic reasons, as meat used to be much more expensive, so people found ways to fill the plates with side dishes and sauces.

I just cooked detvianska nátura, gulášová polievka, zemiakové placky, and rožky for the first time.

My great-grandparents came to the US from Eastern Slovakia and although I have cooked the other dishes of my ancestors (Polish and Irish), I had never cooked any Slovak food. I’m pleased to say it was a success and my mother got a taste of the cooking that her grandmother used to make when my mother was a child.

Hi Lubos,
I traveled Slovakia in April 1993 (I am Bulgarian) with some friends and I loved the folks, the beer (I had a great one in your hometown’s main square’s rock cafe), the mountainous scenery and the GOULASH! I loved it so much from day 1 that I don’t think I ever ordered anything else. It seems there are many versions, but everywhere I tried it over there it was thick. What I cannot produce well here when I try to cook it is to make it THICK. I remember they would serve it in a large deep bowl I was wondering whether to use a spoon or fork. How do you thicken it and keep it without losing the soup?

I kept on reading and I think one of your readers mentioned that the caraway that is added and the peppers help thicken the sauce, so I will try that next week. I don’t think that adding water is a good option. If I remember correctly there was always small pieces of potatoes and I would add a few carrots, see how it goes.
Your web site is stunning! (Your homeland deserves it!)
Keep up the great work!!!

Vynikajuca stranka!
Dakujem!!! My american wife will love this site. We are always struggling to find the right ingredients or substitutes. This will make our lives easier!
Happy new years, we will bee making your kapustnica!

Oh BTW Jozef, with Lubos going recently through PhD program, I know that he was taught a lot about how to write a research papers and all the rules for publishing. So lets leave it alone, this is a site based in the US, done in English language and thus follows the rules of English writing. Yes it is about Slovak cooking, but not written in Slovak language. I am sure you would not want to follow recipes for Chinese food in a Chinese language and grammar rules. The same here, most American Slovaks do not speak much of Slovak language as they are 2-3rd generation of immigrants. That’s a reality and thus using English language to present Slovak recipes, is the right way to go.

sorry for my rant but I know what I talks about from my personal experiences.

Thanks for all your hard work on this sight! I’m loving it! My parents are from Slovakia and my mom can’t remember how to make some of the meals from there because she doesn’t cook anymore and I thought the recipes from my childhood were long gone. Keep up the good work!

My grandparents were Slovak and I have been to my grandmothers village, Turany. Thanks for this site. I dearly miss her cooking. Their last names were Benova and Sturziec, which was changed to Sturdik.

Hello Lubos, Thank-you for this sight. My mother is from Slovakia and growing up, I enjoyed all the home grown recipes. My mother doesn’t remember too many of them now so it is a pleasure to find them here!! Many thanks again!
Jen

Hi there guys & gals, I have some wonderful older Slovakian friends Joachim & Betka – both I their mid-late 80’s & who always amaze me with their wonderful dishes etc. One time when Jozef & I called in to see them, we were treated to a wonderfully tasty soupy dish – all 3 of them were talking Slovak during the meal & only afterwards was I told it was Tripe soup! Still tasted great though!! Will be visiting your website regularly & shall try some of the recipies. Living in W Australia & enjoying a truly cosmopolitan lifestyle, Im grateful indeed to have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting some truly friendly and lovely Slovacs as well as their delicious peasant foods xLx

I contact you completely in person as a collectionar of various promo articles
from different companies, clubs, unions, associations and organizations not
only from Slonenia, my country and countries of ex-Yugoslavia but from allover
the world, mostly of Europe, of course….

I collect almost everything among articles that contains the name and logo of
company, … no matter is it T-shirt, pen, pencil, hat, lighter, umbrella, notebook,
ashtray, bag …. But honestly said I prefer to get a nice promo T-shirt from you
because T-shirt is exactly what my collection the grea number of it!

I’m so sorry to bother you but at least I try to make my collection even more larger.
I hope you are the one to make my wish come true and that you don’t dissapoint
me at all, please!

Many thanks in advance for your understanding and helping me by sending me
whatever frre of any charge for me to my home address (see it below)!

Dobry Den. I love your sight. My husband and I are both Slovak. My Grandmother came to the US via Ellis Island when she was 14. I have been gifted with her pierogie and halupki recipes which we make often. Be glad to continue to support your site.

I will be happy to come to your attention a new unique book “ONE THOUSAND AND TWENTY YEARS OF YOUNG SLOVAKIA” with subtitle “The first complete book about the Slovak Republic”.

The book all in ENGLISH is included in the collection of rigorous selected, the largest and most prestigious library in the world – the Library of Congress U.S., Washington as first formed by Slovak editors /Dr. Ivan Klč, Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Danica Filová, Marián Petričko/ and authors /85 autors of articles/ – after 154 years! The book was printed in Bratislava /Printing company Kasico, a.s./. The book was selected last week by the Vatican Library. The book also used to promotion Office of the President of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Professional consultant: Doc. PhDr. Ján Sand, PhD.
The publisher of the book is Dušan Kutálek.

To content also participated the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.

We just got your book: One thousand and twenty years of young Slovakia, which we ordered and we like very much, it is truly unique and perfectly prepared. We would have ordered another 3 pieces, we want to send to our international partners (Russia, China, America).
Thank you very much and wish a lot of success.

So happy to have found this page! I’ve got my first Bublanina in the oven right now, although it’s a different recipe than yours so I am not quite sure how well it will turn out. Can’t wait to explore your site some more!

Thank you for your wonderful website. Interestingly enough I just made Halubky as the weather has finally turned coldish and rainy.

All four of my great-grandparents came from Parnica in Dolny-Kubin shortly after the turn of the last century. I don’t recall any of my grandmother’s Slovak recipes containing much dairy, notably pirohy. I had a great-aunt that was of Polish descent. She made her pirohy with sour cream and there was always a debate about the “proper” way to make it. Do you think the Hungarian influence in certain areas of the country accounts for some of the differences? Lots of Czech-Americans here in Central Texas but not too many Slovaks.

Hi Lubos,
it´s great what you are doing 🙂 I was happy I stumbled across your website. I also run a plant-based foodblog in London. However, it is not about traditional Slovak cooking. Though, I am planning to include more Slovak as well as Central European recipes or recipes that have some sort of Slovak influence. Keep up a great job!
Monika

Hi Lubos,
I miss my grandmother’s and mother’s cooking, especially around the holidays. I grew up with the familiar recipes of polish potato pancakes, pierogis, and the like. One thing my mother made often is French toast with a savory tomato-based sauce. Not sure if this is a Slovakian dish or if my mother made it up, but I can’t seem to find anyone with knowledge about it. Have you ever heard of anything like that? Let me know.

I live in Quebec, Canada. This recipe with green beans as a main ingredient in a soup is not common in our part of the world!
Wow!!!! my husband and I loved it.
Just brought it up a notch by starting with some onion, garlic and a few slices of bacon. Some chicken broth with the water and the rest just as you are instrusting us.
A wonderfull soup, THIS IS NOW A STAPLE IN OUR HOME.

Hi Lubos
I came across your website looking for slovak recipes. And what gold mine of slovak favorites. I cant thank you enough for putting these recipes on the web. I baked rozky today and they turned out much better then expected. I will be cooking lots of these in time to come.
THANK You
Roman

Thank you for this great website. My grandparents came from Kluknava in the Kosice Region. I grew up on all the staple Slovak dishes and miss my mother and grandmothers cooking and always had Slovak spoken at home, though our generation was sadly never learned it for whatever reason. One day I hope to visit my ancestral homeland. For now, I’ll learn from your website and try and master these recipes!

Hi! Anyone have a good authentic recipe for Liver Dumpling Soup? This is what my Slovak grandmother made for me as a young child in Chicago when I was sick — which was was very often! This is a delicious, healthy broth soup with light-as-air dumplings that I have never seen in the US. I was able to enjoy some during a recent family trip to Werfen, Austria — but was not able to get the recipe. Also, how about those teaspoon-sized boiled mini-dumplings called “nootschke” or something similar? They are out of this world delicious but I’ve never been able to find a recipe. I do have my grandma’s handwritten recipes for goulash, dumplings and possibly a couple of other dishes, which I’m happy to share! Love your website xo

Peter, I’m not sure how many grams, but a standard packet of yeast is equal to 2 1/4tsp. Or 1/4 OZ dry yeast.
Is there a cookbook coming soon before this website expires? It would be a pity to lose so many great recipes!

Happy Holidays

Wishing you all happy holidays and all the best in 2018. Hopefully 2017 was a good year for you all.

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